Ondo by-election: Voters chase APC candidate away from polling unit over vote-buying

By BOLU-OLU ESHO, Akure

Ondo State Deputy Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been accused of vote-buying at Ward 9, Units 3A & 3B Oba-Ile, Akure North Local Government Area of the State while the by-election for Akure North/Akure South federal constituency was ongoing.

Voters and residents of the area became agitated when they discovered immediately after the departure of the Deputy Governor that he was the one in a black Mercedes Benz G Wagon parked outside Saint Paul’s Primary School, venue of the polling units.

The residents started mobilising themselves to the polling units when it filtered in that the APC boys were planning to snatch the ballot boxes.

This development created a tense atmosphere for a couple of minutes till the police arrived at the scene.

According to one of the residents, who vowed to resist any attempt to snatch their ballot boxes, “We saw him (deputy governor) he came to share money. Let them share any amount, he would fail. This is PDP unit, we won’t allow them to snatch any ballot box.”

Meanwhile, the deputy governor has denied being at the venue, saying he didn’t leave his neighbourhood at Alagbaka, Akure.

Aiyedatiwa said: “It is not true. How can I go around distributing money? What is my own with that? Anyone that says so should bring evidence where they saw me distributing money.

“I live outside Government House. I live among the people, so I don’t live in a Government House for now. So, if some people say they see me, maybe around my area. I don’t understand what they are saying.”

However, the former Commissioner for Work, Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye confirmed the presence of the deputy governor at the polling unit.

He said: “This is not his(Aiyedatiwa) ward, he is from the South. But as a Senior citizen, he came to monitor the situation.

“How can he be distributing money. He only came here to ask me questions and I told him that the election had been peaceful.

“The allegation that APC tried to snatch ballot is not true. Those making the claim were only insinuating. Are they afraid? It is a free and fair election we will not create any crisis.”

In another development, the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Lawson Alade was said to have been prevented by people at his polling unit from voting.

They accused him of attempting to bribe voters in the queue and thereby chased him away from the polling unit without voting.

Speaking with newsmen, Alade claimed that he had voted in the same unit.

A member of APC disclosed that he was prevented from voting because when he arrived, some people hailed him and he attempted to give them money for soft drinks. But the people became angry, accusing him of attempting to bribe some voters so they could vote for him.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate at October 10 , 2020 gubernatorial poll, Eyitayo Jegede SAN, told newsmen at his polling unit, Ward 2, Unit 9, Akure South Local Government Area, that INEC would need to work on Biometric Voter Authentication System (BVAS) for effective verification, voting and transfer of election results. (Saturday Independent)